Scarlet Lady: The Toshin Quest
By Indigo Siren
Disclaimer: Tekken is © to Namco, and that all characters mentioned from under this label are only used in this fan fiction for entertainment purposes only. No money is being made from this story; it is just for fun. I do however own the basic concept and characters of my own creation.
Chapter 9
Forest sat gawking at Anna as she finally finished relaying every little bit of information she'd found out that day. Her rounded up conclusions and very wild card sources had his head spinning in a downward spiral.
"You're actually going to believe what a so called PSYCHIC boy says? He just comes out of nowhere with some encrypted dreams and thinks that somehow he can solve the case. Nope, he's grossly mistaken there." Forest sighed and stood from his seat, going to look out the window. "It's becoming more and more tedious with so little to follow up on. The patterns of the murder are so hard to get your head round that we end up crashing and burning before we progress any further."
"I know it's a little hard to swallow but with everything that exists in this world, I think that I wouldn't doubt a psychic to do us wrong," she said.
"Are you sure he's psychic?" Forest asked, a little doubtful in his own rights. He was never one for these mystical gifts though he didn't doubt Anna's demon sensing ability.
"I'm positive. I don't think they'd be much point in lying. And there was just something about him that confirmed it." She ran a hand through her bob cropped haired, swinging is back so it was behind her shoulders. She was dying to get into a shower, even though she'd had one that morning. Just having been in a room with hordes of demons made her suddenly feel all sticky and awful.
Forest was silent for moment as he just stared out the window, thoughtful. A few minutes later, he gave a disgruntled sigh and returned to his seat. "You know, the rate we're going, Toshin is going to get to this 'Red Eye' thing before we get much further with this case."
"I don't think so," Anna conveyed, sitting forward. "Most of the demons are unsure to what 'The Red Eye' actually is. I know it doesn't mean that Toshin wouldn't know but I have this feeling that even this all powerful demon is confused to where it's looking."
Forest snorted, holding back the laughter that wanted to flow out. "Toshin isn't all so fantastic if it's set out on this whole big power trip, world domination plan and yet the thing it is looking for it hardly knows squat about."
"Oh no, it knows what it's about, it just doesn't know what it looks like or where to find it."
"Well, that buys us time," he said, looking a little more relaxed with this notion.
"Very little time though. I don't think Toshin is messing around." Anna took her notebook off his bed and flipped over to a very scribbled page which listed a lot of her notes she'd taken that were soon going to be written into a report of the findings thus far. She began to scribble a few more side notes down.
"We're not messing around either," Forest protested. "It's just not easy."
"I know, I know and we're not going to give up, unless Governor Mishima decides to stick his fat ass in on the case and get rid of us." Anna sighed, flipped the notebook closed and threw it back on the bed. "But forget him for now, he's not said anything new. What I think is, according to what Jin Kazama filled me on is that maybe it isn't just a demon that could have something to do with 'The Red Eye'. Could be human and it doesn't know."
"But what that psychic picked up on was something from Toshin's thoughts, right? Wouldn't Toshin then know?" Forest inquired.
"It doesn't have to have been directly from its thoughts. It could be linked to the subconscious and something physically projected that it doesn't realise it's doing." Forest just gave her a confused look. "Never mind."
"Okay…" He would have said more but the knocking at the door cut him off. "Ah, that must be Eddy."
"Here to check up on our progress?" Anna asked.
"Kind of, more into the sharing information kind," Forest corrected, going up to the open the door. Yes, indeed it was Eddy, and Forest stepped aside and invited him in.
"Hello to the both of you. How have you been?" Eddy greeted, taking a seat on the free chair next to Anna.
"Well…" Forest just blew out a long tired sigh to signify his answer.
"Shit, thanks for asking." Anna picked up her notebook and threw it over to him.
"That bad, huh?" Eddy said, giving her a half-cocked smile, looking down at the notebook.
"Flip a few pages in for the latest info. It's only note form. I'll type it up properly later," Anna said, seeing him nod in understanding as he began to read through everything she'd come up with.
Nobody bothered to break into conversation to cover the silence as Eddy read Anna's notes. She sat back, lightly tapping her fingers on lap and Forest just went to look out the window at the dark sky. He was much into just staring out the window, which got Anna thinking sometimes if he liked to stare a lot… and she hoped not in any perverse way with the insinuation.
"Right," the two turned to Eddy who gave a slight nod and looked up to Anna, flapping the notebook shut and throwing it back to her. She caught it and set it to one side.
"So, now you've caught up with us. What do you think?" She asked.
"It's helpful, though tedious. You're very bold to trust a psychic, if he is really one that is," he said honestly.
"That's basically what I was saying," Forest dropped in.
Anna gave her partner a sharp glare, but set to ignore him as she carried on with the matter at hand. "Yes, but it just all seems to fit cosy into this very big jigsaw mess we've got. I think it could be useful information and we'd be foolish not to at least pay attention. Have you got any more information yourself?"
"Actually, we had a couple of eye witness reports come in. Quite sketchy, but thinking about it and comparing it to your mention of suburban sightings, it seems to match the accommodated areas that Toshin was supposedly seen."
Anna brightened. Maybe they'd hit something there. "Really? Could I get the locations of where Toshin was sighted."
"I'll have the office deliver the papers here by courier in the morning. It will give them time to brush up on the reports and what not. Can you get your bit typed up by morning?"
She sighed. "I will be working into all hours, but I think I can do it. But I'm definitely taking a break before I decide to hit the keyboard. I've had a pretty hectic day as it is. I think I'll call Lei in the morning. He'll have a go at me if I don't keep him up to date with things."
"That's fine, don't overwork yourself though," Eddy advised and stood. "I know it seems I haven't been here more then two seconds but I've got to be in a meeting with the Tokyo Governors at eight in the morning. I'm going to try and buy us some more time."
"Hope you can win them over," Anna said. "Try and stop Heihachi Mishima convincing them otherwise."
"If I plead a good cause I think they'll let us go on. We've got pretty good information up to now, I doubt that the other governors will pay any attention to Heihachi. Just hope he hasn't been stirring anything behind our backs."
"Would be a kick in the face if he'd been doing that," she said, walking him towards the door.
"Yeah would be ironic that more shit would hit the fan in such a short amount of time of the case starting," Eddy said with a sigh, stepping out the now opened door. "Well, I hope to see you maybe tomorrow if possible."
"Alright, good luck," Anna wished him and they bid their goodnights. She retreated into the room to only retrieve her black fur trim coat, ready to go out.
"Please don't stay out too long," Forest said.
"Yes daddy, anything you say," she teased and gave him a wink, grabbing her notepad to take back to her own room, stepping out.
Forest went back to staring out the window. Though Tokyo was a big city in front of his eyes, with Toshin's power becoming more intense, the world felt like it was getting a heck of a lot smaller.
***
She raised the small soda bottle once again to her lips, taking a hefty sip of the cool liquid. Anna just couldn't decide whether she was hot or cold, or even in between. The cool wind that had struck up was chilling her bared legs, as she was wearing only a rose-coloured mini skirt. The top half of her felt drowned in a heat wave. The thickness of her coat was helpful only to an extent. Kept the cold off her but baked her like she was in an oven. All she could do was sip idly at her drink, trying to ignore her two problems. Or maybe it was the fact she was focusing on these little things to take her mind off of the big picture.
She tapped the plastic bottle between her fingers, making a tune without thought. She had so much on her mind, she just prayed there was enough air out there to clear her head.
'Suffocation. The latest craze…' She chuckled silently. 'That would definitely clear my head… of course, I'd be half dead too.'
She needed a new topic to think of. Needlessly wracking her brain, she skipped past all the ideals of her work until she reached a thought in her mind she tried to ignore.
Her love life.
"Great, I just had to go there," she mumbled, knowing it there was no turning back from the thought.
Most of the time, work has been her priority, and the even speckle of a thought about a love life would be brushed away as she cracked down on nailing another demonic criminal. Yes, every punch, kick and bullet she attacked with seemed to preoccupy every waking moment. She thrived in the heat of battle, if half the situations could be described in that way. She'd had relationships before, a once been intimate, but her crazy life and all her family problems had lead to cold break ups and her running away from her lovers. Now she pushed men away almost instinctively, though sometimes, she really wished to be held tightly within loving arms.
But who would be the man that would be lucky enough to hold her tight in an embrace? Out of curiosity, she decided to think about the list of men that she knew and was quite close to.
There was Forest. A nice guy but so delved into his work, there wouldn't be much time to hug and kiss between shooting some poor bastard in the head. Anna couldn't help but laugh. She knew that they were so much a like, and that's what put her off. No, she didn't want to be with someone just like her; they'd be drawing a white line down the centre of every room eventually.
Then, there was Paul. Now, this thought had her reeling. No way in hell would she give herself to the former criminal. But then again, being so sexually deprived, there was a certain appeal to him. Some dark kinky fantasy, she assumed with disgust. Waking up beside him in bed was one of her worst nightmares. She couldn't imagine dating anyone like him and decided to block his image from her head, now getting mental pictures of them snuggled together beneath the sheets.
What about her boss? Lei Wulong. She blanched, covering her mouth, trying not to laugh. She'd sure get a lot of grief if she ever tried to date her boss. And besides he was much older then her. Well, she wasn't afraid to admit he was pretty good looking, but his attitude was normally quite strict and seemed to put her off him right away. Anyway, the guy had a girlfriend, and she was all for them.
Bryan Fury from the forensics department sprung to mind and she instantly dismissed him. Too sadistic in some retrospect for her tastes.
Then… there was Hwoarang, the bounty hunter. She didn't really know him and her first impressions of him were not good. He was cocky, completely arrogant and was too self-righteous. But though… he was the sexiest of all the men she'd thought of so far. Now, strangely enough, she could imagine in some sick way actually getting along with him and doing some unspeakable things.
"Anna, you have the strangest taste in men," she said to herself, taking another sip from her bottle, deciding it was time to ditch the subject from thought before she really got to thinking about it.
Her back went rigid as an electric spark shot up her spine, every sense flaring to life. She could sense something demonic coming up on her fast and she was quick to turn, but not fast enough as a fist connected with her jaw.
She was sent flying backward against a metal grated bin, the bottle in her hand was now kissing the floor, spraying the contents across the pavement. Anna let out a gasp at the sharp prodding of the grids against her back, and also at the pain that now ran through her jaw. Her eyes met that of her attackers, that being a very furious looking Julia.
Anna touched her mouth, bringing her hand back to inspect her situation. No blood thankfully.
"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" Anna managed to snap, rotating her jaw slightly, rubbing her fingers against it. It felt more numb then painful now.
Julia didn't reply, letting out a feral cry and used her demonic speed as she charged at Anna, bringing her hands down in a double axe handle. Of course, expecting such an attack, Anna went low and swung her leg around, tripping the girl who was sent crashing over the bin, forced by Anna's attack and the ferocity of her own.
Anna got back to her feet, covering a bit of distance between them, her guard up. Julia was up again, stepping back, accessing her very minor injuries. Just dark pink squared markings from where she'd hit the bin. She cried out and shot at Anna again, this time jumping into a kick that sent both women down to the ground mercilessly.
Anna was winded as she's tried to stop her landing, instead, bruising up her rubs slightly.
'Just great,' she thought, just reacting in time to miss Julia's punch that had been aimed for the dead centre of her face. If that had hit, she'd have had a broken nose. With the miss, Anna countered by grabbing that arm, pushing up and shoving her other hand under the girls chin, snapping her head back. With this manoeuvre, she twisted the arm to come back to a painful position that had an aggressive torque the shoulder, forcing Julia to her knees. Anna took a spread stance, holding her there, hoping for submission.
"Are you going to tell me what the hell you're doing?" Anna questioned.
"ARGH! Let go of me you bitch!" Julia growled, trying not to cry out as her shoulder racked with pain.
'She's not going to be easy to deal with,' Anna thought, putting more pressure on the twisted shoulder. Julia cried out, trying to pull away and only causing more discomfort.
The Irish woman thought you'd got the girl locked down but was surprised to feel her rise to the pressure, gathering up slightly to her feet and pulling Anna back a bit. She went down as she felt Julia managed to loosen herself from the grip enough to go low with a kick that took out her vertical base.
Anna hit back first on the hard ground, staring up at starry patched sky, bewildered at such a counter.
"DIE!"
Anna went wide eyed as Julia leapt over her, coming down over her head ready to stomp her brains into the ground. Quick movement saved her by a hair as she rolled away, hearing the heavy thud of feet cracking into the pavement where she'd been.
Julia swung a spinning kick from high to low on Anna, only the first connecting, forcing her back away from the last kick. To try a pound in a hooked uppercut on the woman, Julia came up from the low kick with the kick fire follow up, quite surprised that Anna had side-stepped the crooked fist. Instead, Anna was the one to inflict the pain as she came at the girl with four punches, right to left, right to left and finishing with a swift roundhouse kick.
Julia stumbled back away, almost falling, but Anna had taken hold of her flailing arm in which she pulled against and turned her in mid-air as she arm flipped her over onto the ground.
The native girl wanted to rise again but was driven back down as Anna pressed her foot against her chest and ground her high heel against it. Julia squirmed, crying out, the pressure of the sharp heel enough to keep her on the floor. Anna ceased this movement but didn't remove her foot, keeping her weight over it so Julia would take the hint to stay down or feel more pain.
"Okay, now that I've beaten some sense into you, mind telling me why you decide to up and attack me?"
Julia glared up at Anna as she spoke all so calm even after that brutal attack.
"You… you're a heartless witch! You've only come to cause trouble!" She hissed at the IPD officer.
"You wouldn't happen to be in on Toshin's scheme, would you?" Anna asked, pressing harder with her foot.
Julia looked offended. "You would love to frame me with that, wouldn't you? No, I'm not working for Toshin! I'm trying to stop you for interfering before more of us die! It will be your fault if they do! They'd said you'd be the reason!"
Anna blinked confused. "Who said?"
"These boys I saw talking about their lord and master and the whole situation," she explained, hissing with the pain on her burning chest. "But it doesn't matter! Nobody would care if you disappeared! I bet half the demon population would rejoice! You've always been a overly dignified cowered, using authority as a good reason to beat up the demons!"
"I have my reasons," Anna said lowly.
"And that gives you the right to make all of us pay? Was it one demon that hurt you?" Anna didn't respond, but Julia didn't relent either. "I bet it was one and you think you can just hurt us all, don't you? DON'T YOU!"
"Sometimes I maybe unjustified, but deep down, I'm right in thinking you're all the same," Anna coldly replied.
"Poor excuse! We're all not evil! You don't have the right to treat us like that!" She yelled.
So, Anna had finally got her reasoning for Julia's behaviour. What did it matter? She didn't care what a demon proclaimed anyway. She just pushed on regardless.
"And what about you? Trying to be a heroine?" Anna chastised. "What would killing me do, hmm? They still wouldn't stop! If I die so does a lot of the chances to stop this thing. I know that I'm one of the only people who can do it. But killing me would mean more death."
"If you don't die, more demons will die. Every way you look, death is there." Julia glared hard up at her, fighting back the tears clouding her vision.
"If some must be sacrificed to stop Toshin, then so be it. In the long term, the majority will triumph," Anna said.
"You really don't give a crap about us," Julia seethed with a scarily cool voice.
Anna lifted her foot away and stepped back, looking down on her with such a condescending look, it could have melted the poor demon girl into the ground.
"Just go home. You're so stupid to believe that killing me would be the answer to all your problems. Have a little faith. I may be harsh to most demons, but it doesn't mean I won't help to stop one of your own obliterating your kind."
Julia rose up carefully, giving Anna the coldest glare. Anna kept her defences up just in case the girl wanted to strike again. But she didn't, she stood down, tears streaking her face.
"I must be stupid to let you go… so stupid…" Julia said shakily and she turned and stormed off.
Anna stood watching the young woman disappear. She shook her head and sudden let out a tired groan at the aching that ran through her body. It had only started since she had begun paying attention to it. She decided to head back towards the hotel. She'd have thought she'd learned by now that taking a walk was dangerous for her health.
She did remember on her way back to pick up the bottle from earlier and use the bin for what it was really meant for instead of a crash course obstacle in a fight.
***
Julia hadn't turned back since walking away from Anna, not even for a second glance. It would have only upset her more looking into the eyes of such a heartless woman. Maybe she had done the right thing to walk away without blood on her hands, but now she was letting her live and the whole threat of the elimination of her kind still fresh out there. It tore into her heart realising she was helpless to do anything. She had to just leave it up someone like Anna to do the job for her.
She just shook her head and hastily wiped away her tears, pretending they'd never escaped in the first place. No way in hell did she want to be seen as some emotional little girl always crying at the thought of danger.
She was suddenly brought to an abrupt stop when she heard the high pitched laughter the seemed to flutter through the wind. It sent a chill right up her spine. She turned around, searching for the person behind the laughter, but was met by nothing but an empty street, lacking life of most sorts.
'I didn't imagine it…' She thought, her ears pricking up as she heard the laughter again, closer this time, coming from her right, which from coming from another street.
She turned her attention down there, looking along the long dark stretch, with nothing moving in sight. She held her breath; hands clenched tightly, her nails digging into the palms of her hands. It was always the case that seeing something meant it was there, but Julia could plainly feeling something coming, their energy riding the wind. Distantly, she thought she could see a green flash of light. Now, being the smart girl she was, Julia didn't waste a second's thought on it as she turned the opposite direction and broke into a run.
She didn't want to breath, she didn't want to make a sound, though her boots made a heavy clomping sound as her feet beat across the concrete, making her heart beat faster with each step. It was now half way away from where she had been standing before and she could now feel a powerful presence, gaining on her fast. She didn't dare turn around, her instincts telling her to keep running as fast as she could.
Taking a sharp left down a narrow path between two shops, she dodged the tall bins and an old rusty bike and followed the long stretch down to a crossroad, now quiet being it quite late in the evening. She ran across, swinging a right to run further on, past a very desolate range of housing, no lights in the windows. Soon, she found her stopping outside of the gates of the Mishima High School, the funded school by Governor Heihachi Mishima.
Without a second thought, she climbed the railings and hoped over, bolting across the courtyard of the front of the school. Right ahead of her was a large fountain monument, still spurting water even though the school was closed up for the night. She skidded down and came to rest just behind the monument, curling up slightly, breathing heavily.
'It can't find me, no way…' She kept telling herself over and over in her mind.
Seconds dragged on into minutes, time beginning to pass as she sat there, waiting to see what would happen next. But nothing seemed it was going to. It was all silent.
'I think I lost it,' she thought, blowing out a sigh of relief.
There was a flash and green light seeped over the ground, taking over every shadow that tried to hide.
Julia gasped, slowly turning in her position, rising to look up over the edge of the fountain, unable to turn away from the light ahead…
***
"Why are you making me come in early?" Xiaoyu whined, dragging behind Jin slightly as they walked to school together.
"Because you were complaining about your homework and I'm going to help you with it," he told her.
"But, we'll be there before everyone else!" She said, as if it was the worst thing to ever happen in the world.
"Yes, and that's a good thing. No distractions," he confirmed, hearing her sigh in defeat.
"Though, are you sure you're well enough to be attending school?" She asked suddenly.
"Well, I can stay in bed for the rest of my days hoping the nightmares will go away. But I have been feeling better, so don't be too concerned," he informed her, giving the young Chinese girl an assuring smile, which she returned.
They were coming towards the school railings when they heard a loud yell. Jin and Xiaoyu turned to each other. It sounded like the caretaker.
They came to the gates of the Mishima High School and looked around for the man in question.
"It sounded like it came from the field," Jin said, taking Xiaoyu's arm as they ran in the direction that they'd heard the cry.
Moments later, they found the caretaker, standing there mortified. He didn't even acknowledge the two, as his eyes were set on a figure floating face up in the pond.
Xiaoyu followed his line of gaze as was horrified to see the stark white body of Julia floating there, void of life. Her eyes stared up towards the sky, seeing nothing, her mouth parted in an eternal scream that had been silenced long ago. The only scream that could be heard now was from Xiaoyu, who was in complete hysterics.
Jin grabbed the young woman and pulled her to himself, holding her faced away from the body. He was in shock himself by seeing the body of his friend floating there ahead of him, but he couldn't look away. He listened almost distantly to Xiaoyu's sobbing, as he could feel a tingle crackling inside of him. He knew that Julia had been another victim of Toshin.
*********************************************************************************
A/N: Julia didn't make much of an apperance, and I know her death will make an impact as she is normally quite a popular used character. Oh well. ^_^ Hope you still read on anyway!
By Indigo Siren
Disclaimer: Tekken is © to Namco, and that all characters mentioned from under this label are only used in this fan fiction for entertainment purposes only. No money is being made from this story; it is just for fun. I do however own the basic concept and characters of my own creation.
Chapter 9
Forest sat gawking at Anna as she finally finished relaying every little bit of information she'd found out that day. Her rounded up conclusions and very wild card sources had his head spinning in a downward spiral.
"You're actually going to believe what a so called PSYCHIC boy says? He just comes out of nowhere with some encrypted dreams and thinks that somehow he can solve the case. Nope, he's grossly mistaken there." Forest sighed and stood from his seat, going to look out the window. "It's becoming more and more tedious with so little to follow up on. The patterns of the murder are so hard to get your head round that we end up crashing and burning before we progress any further."
"I know it's a little hard to swallow but with everything that exists in this world, I think that I wouldn't doubt a psychic to do us wrong," she said.
"Are you sure he's psychic?" Forest asked, a little doubtful in his own rights. He was never one for these mystical gifts though he didn't doubt Anna's demon sensing ability.
"I'm positive. I don't think they'd be much point in lying. And there was just something about him that confirmed it." She ran a hand through her bob cropped haired, swinging is back so it was behind her shoulders. She was dying to get into a shower, even though she'd had one that morning. Just having been in a room with hordes of demons made her suddenly feel all sticky and awful.
Forest was silent for moment as he just stared out the window, thoughtful. A few minutes later, he gave a disgruntled sigh and returned to his seat. "You know, the rate we're going, Toshin is going to get to this 'Red Eye' thing before we get much further with this case."
"I don't think so," Anna conveyed, sitting forward. "Most of the demons are unsure to what 'The Red Eye' actually is. I know it doesn't mean that Toshin wouldn't know but I have this feeling that even this all powerful demon is confused to where it's looking."
Forest snorted, holding back the laughter that wanted to flow out. "Toshin isn't all so fantastic if it's set out on this whole big power trip, world domination plan and yet the thing it is looking for it hardly knows squat about."
"Oh no, it knows what it's about, it just doesn't know what it looks like or where to find it."
"Well, that buys us time," he said, looking a little more relaxed with this notion.
"Very little time though. I don't think Toshin is messing around." Anna took her notebook off his bed and flipped over to a very scribbled page which listed a lot of her notes she'd taken that were soon going to be written into a report of the findings thus far. She began to scribble a few more side notes down.
"We're not messing around either," Forest protested. "It's just not easy."
"I know, I know and we're not going to give up, unless Governor Mishima decides to stick his fat ass in on the case and get rid of us." Anna sighed, flipped the notebook closed and threw it back on the bed. "But forget him for now, he's not said anything new. What I think is, according to what Jin Kazama filled me on is that maybe it isn't just a demon that could have something to do with 'The Red Eye'. Could be human and it doesn't know."
"But what that psychic picked up on was something from Toshin's thoughts, right? Wouldn't Toshin then know?" Forest inquired.
"It doesn't have to have been directly from its thoughts. It could be linked to the subconscious and something physically projected that it doesn't realise it's doing." Forest just gave her a confused look. "Never mind."
"Okay…" He would have said more but the knocking at the door cut him off. "Ah, that must be Eddy."
"Here to check up on our progress?" Anna asked.
"Kind of, more into the sharing information kind," Forest corrected, going up to the open the door. Yes, indeed it was Eddy, and Forest stepped aside and invited him in.
"Hello to the both of you. How have you been?" Eddy greeted, taking a seat on the free chair next to Anna.
"Well…" Forest just blew out a long tired sigh to signify his answer.
"Shit, thanks for asking." Anna picked up her notebook and threw it over to him.
"That bad, huh?" Eddy said, giving her a half-cocked smile, looking down at the notebook.
"Flip a few pages in for the latest info. It's only note form. I'll type it up properly later," Anna said, seeing him nod in understanding as he began to read through everything she'd come up with.
Nobody bothered to break into conversation to cover the silence as Eddy read Anna's notes. She sat back, lightly tapping her fingers on lap and Forest just went to look out the window at the dark sky. He was much into just staring out the window, which got Anna thinking sometimes if he liked to stare a lot… and she hoped not in any perverse way with the insinuation.
"Right," the two turned to Eddy who gave a slight nod and looked up to Anna, flapping the notebook shut and throwing it back to her. She caught it and set it to one side.
"So, now you've caught up with us. What do you think?" She asked.
"It's helpful, though tedious. You're very bold to trust a psychic, if he is really one that is," he said honestly.
"That's basically what I was saying," Forest dropped in.
Anna gave her partner a sharp glare, but set to ignore him as she carried on with the matter at hand. "Yes, but it just all seems to fit cosy into this very big jigsaw mess we've got. I think it could be useful information and we'd be foolish not to at least pay attention. Have you got any more information yourself?"
"Actually, we had a couple of eye witness reports come in. Quite sketchy, but thinking about it and comparing it to your mention of suburban sightings, it seems to match the accommodated areas that Toshin was supposedly seen."
Anna brightened. Maybe they'd hit something there. "Really? Could I get the locations of where Toshin was sighted."
"I'll have the office deliver the papers here by courier in the morning. It will give them time to brush up on the reports and what not. Can you get your bit typed up by morning?"
She sighed. "I will be working into all hours, but I think I can do it. But I'm definitely taking a break before I decide to hit the keyboard. I've had a pretty hectic day as it is. I think I'll call Lei in the morning. He'll have a go at me if I don't keep him up to date with things."
"That's fine, don't overwork yourself though," Eddy advised and stood. "I know it seems I haven't been here more then two seconds but I've got to be in a meeting with the Tokyo Governors at eight in the morning. I'm going to try and buy us some more time."
"Hope you can win them over," Anna said. "Try and stop Heihachi Mishima convincing them otherwise."
"If I plead a good cause I think they'll let us go on. We've got pretty good information up to now, I doubt that the other governors will pay any attention to Heihachi. Just hope he hasn't been stirring anything behind our backs."
"Would be a kick in the face if he'd been doing that," she said, walking him towards the door.
"Yeah would be ironic that more shit would hit the fan in such a short amount of time of the case starting," Eddy said with a sigh, stepping out the now opened door. "Well, I hope to see you maybe tomorrow if possible."
"Alright, good luck," Anna wished him and they bid their goodnights. She retreated into the room to only retrieve her black fur trim coat, ready to go out.
"Please don't stay out too long," Forest said.
"Yes daddy, anything you say," she teased and gave him a wink, grabbing her notepad to take back to her own room, stepping out.
Forest went back to staring out the window. Though Tokyo was a big city in front of his eyes, with Toshin's power becoming more intense, the world felt like it was getting a heck of a lot smaller.
***
She raised the small soda bottle once again to her lips, taking a hefty sip of the cool liquid. Anna just couldn't decide whether she was hot or cold, or even in between. The cool wind that had struck up was chilling her bared legs, as she was wearing only a rose-coloured mini skirt. The top half of her felt drowned in a heat wave. The thickness of her coat was helpful only to an extent. Kept the cold off her but baked her like she was in an oven. All she could do was sip idly at her drink, trying to ignore her two problems. Or maybe it was the fact she was focusing on these little things to take her mind off of the big picture.
She tapped the plastic bottle between her fingers, making a tune without thought. She had so much on her mind, she just prayed there was enough air out there to clear her head.
'Suffocation. The latest craze…' She chuckled silently. 'That would definitely clear my head… of course, I'd be half dead too.'
She needed a new topic to think of. Needlessly wracking her brain, she skipped past all the ideals of her work until she reached a thought in her mind she tried to ignore.
Her love life.
"Great, I just had to go there," she mumbled, knowing it there was no turning back from the thought.
Most of the time, work has been her priority, and the even speckle of a thought about a love life would be brushed away as she cracked down on nailing another demonic criminal. Yes, every punch, kick and bullet she attacked with seemed to preoccupy every waking moment. She thrived in the heat of battle, if half the situations could be described in that way. She'd had relationships before, a once been intimate, but her crazy life and all her family problems had lead to cold break ups and her running away from her lovers. Now she pushed men away almost instinctively, though sometimes, she really wished to be held tightly within loving arms.
But who would be the man that would be lucky enough to hold her tight in an embrace? Out of curiosity, she decided to think about the list of men that she knew and was quite close to.
There was Forest. A nice guy but so delved into his work, there wouldn't be much time to hug and kiss between shooting some poor bastard in the head. Anna couldn't help but laugh. She knew that they were so much a like, and that's what put her off. No, she didn't want to be with someone just like her; they'd be drawing a white line down the centre of every room eventually.
Then, there was Paul. Now, this thought had her reeling. No way in hell would she give herself to the former criminal. But then again, being so sexually deprived, there was a certain appeal to him. Some dark kinky fantasy, she assumed with disgust. Waking up beside him in bed was one of her worst nightmares. She couldn't imagine dating anyone like him and decided to block his image from her head, now getting mental pictures of them snuggled together beneath the sheets.
What about her boss? Lei Wulong. She blanched, covering her mouth, trying not to laugh. She'd sure get a lot of grief if she ever tried to date her boss. And besides he was much older then her. Well, she wasn't afraid to admit he was pretty good looking, but his attitude was normally quite strict and seemed to put her off him right away. Anyway, the guy had a girlfriend, and she was all for them.
Bryan Fury from the forensics department sprung to mind and she instantly dismissed him. Too sadistic in some retrospect for her tastes.
Then… there was Hwoarang, the bounty hunter. She didn't really know him and her first impressions of him were not good. He was cocky, completely arrogant and was too self-righteous. But though… he was the sexiest of all the men she'd thought of so far. Now, strangely enough, she could imagine in some sick way actually getting along with him and doing some unspeakable things.
"Anna, you have the strangest taste in men," she said to herself, taking another sip from her bottle, deciding it was time to ditch the subject from thought before she really got to thinking about it.
Her back went rigid as an electric spark shot up her spine, every sense flaring to life. She could sense something demonic coming up on her fast and she was quick to turn, but not fast enough as a fist connected with her jaw.
She was sent flying backward against a metal grated bin, the bottle in her hand was now kissing the floor, spraying the contents across the pavement. Anna let out a gasp at the sharp prodding of the grids against her back, and also at the pain that now ran through her jaw. Her eyes met that of her attackers, that being a very furious looking Julia.
Anna touched her mouth, bringing her hand back to inspect her situation. No blood thankfully.
"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" Anna managed to snap, rotating her jaw slightly, rubbing her fingers against it. It felt more numb then painful now.
Julia didn't reply, letting out a feral cry and used her demonic speed as she charged at Anna, bringing her hands down in a double axe handle. Of course, expecting such an attack, Anna went low and swung her leg around, tripping the girl who was sent crashing over the bin, forced by Anna's attack and the ferocity of her own.
Anna got back to her feet, covering a bit of distance between them, her guard up. Julia was up again, stepping back, accessing her very minor injuries. Just dark pink squared markings from where she'd hit the bin. She cried out and shot at Anna again, this time jumping into a kick that sent both women down to the ground mercilessly.
Anna was winded as she's tried to stop her landing, instead, bruising up her rubs slightly.
'Just great,' she thought, just reacting in time to miss Julia's punch that had been aimed for the dead centre of her face. If that had hit, she'd have had a broken nose. With the miss, Anna countered by grabbing that arm, pushing up and shoving her other hand under the girls chin, snapping her head back. With this manoeuvre, she twisted the arm to come back to a painful position that had an aggressive torque the shoulder, forcing Julia to her knees. Anna took a spread stance, holding her there, hoping for submission.
"Are you going to tell me what the hell you're doing?" Anna questioned.
"ARGH! Let go of me you bitch!" Julia growled, trying not to cry out as her shoulder racked with pain.
'She's not going to be easy to deal with,' Anna thought, putting more pressure on the twisted shoulder. Julia cried out, trying to pull away and only causing more discomfort.
The Irish woman thought you'd got the girl locked down but was surprised to feel her rise to the pressure, gathering up slightly to her feet and pulling Anna back a bit. She went down as she felt Julia managed to loosen herself from the grip enough to go low with a kick that took out her vertical base.
Anna hit back first on the hard ground, staring up at starry patched sky, bewildered at such a counter.
"DIE!"
Anna went wide eyed as Julia leapt over her, coming down over her head ready to stomp her brains into the ground. Quick movement saved her by a hair as she rolled away, hearing the heavy thud of feet cracking into the pavement where she'd been.
Julia swung a spinning kick from high to low on Anna, only the first connecting, forcing her back away from the last kick. To try a pound in a hooked uppercut on the woman, Julia came up from the low kick with the kick fire follow up, quite surprised that Anna had side-stepped the crooked fist. Instead, Anna was the one to inflict the pain as she came at the girl with four punches, right to left, right to left and finishing with a swift roundhouse kick.
Julia stumbled back away, almost falling, but Anna had taken hold of her flailing arm in which she pulled against and turned her in mid-air as she arm flipped her over onto the ground.
The native girl wanted to rise again but was driven back down as Anna pressed her foot against her chest and ground her high heel against it. Julia squirmed, crying out, the pressure of the sharp heel enough to keep her on the floor. Anna ceased this movement but didn't remove her foot, keeping her weight over it so Julia would take the hint to stay down or feel more pain.
"Okay, now that I've beaten some sense into you, mind telling me why you decide to up and attack me?"
Julia glared up at Anna as she spoke all so calm even after that brutal attack.
"You… you're a heartless witch! You've only come to cause trouble!" She hissed at the IPD officer.
"You wouldn't happen to be in on Toshin's scheme, would you?" Anna asked, pressing harder with her foot.
Julia looked offended. "You would love to frame me with that, wouldn't you? No, I'm not working for Toshin! I'm trying to stop you for interfering before more of us die! It will be your fault if they do! They'd said you'd be the reason!"
Anna blinked confused. "Who said?"
"These boys I saw talking about their lord and master and the whole situation," she explained, hissing with the pain on her burning chest. "But it doesn't matter! Nobody would care if you disappeared! I bet half the demon population would rejoice! You've always been a overly dignified cowered, using authority as a good reason to beat up the demons!"
"I have my reasons," Anna said lowly.
"And that gives you the right to make all of us pay? Was it one demon that hurt you?" Anna didn't respond, but Julia didn't relent either. "I bet it was one and you think you can just hurt us all, don't you? DON'T YOU!"
"Sometimes I maybe unjustified, but deep down, I'm right in thinking you're all the same," Anna coldly replied.
"Poor excuse! We're all not evil! You don't have the right to treat us like that!" She yelled.
So, Anna had finally got her reasoning for Julia's behaviour. What did it matter? She didn't care what a demon proclaimed anyway. She just pushed on regardless.
"And what about you? Trying to be a heroine?" Anna chastised. "What would killing me do, hmm? They still wouldn't stop! If I die so does a lot of the chances to stop this thing. I know that I'm one of the only people who can do it. But killing me would mean more death."
"If you don't die, more demons will die. Every way you look, death is there." Julia glared hard up at her, fighting back the tears clouding her vision.
"If some must be sacrificed to stop Toshin, then so be it. In the long term, the majority will triumph," Anna said.
"You really don't give a crap about us," Julia seethed with a scarily cool voice.
Anna lifted her foot away and stepped back, looking down on her with such a condescending look, it could have melted the poor demon girl into the ground.
"Just go home. You're so stupid to believe that killing me would be the answer to all your problems. Have a little faith. I may be harsh to most demons, but it doesn't mean I won't help to stop one of your own obliterating your kind."
Julia rose up carefully, giving Anna the coldest glare. Anna kept her defences up just in case the girl wanted to strike again. But she didn't, she stood down, tears streaking her face.
"I must be stupid to let you go… so stupid…" Julia said shakily and she turned and stormed off.
Anna stood watching the young woman disappear. She shook her head and sudden let out a tired groan at the aching that ran through her body. It had only started since she had begun paying attention to it. She decided to head back towards the hotel. She'd have thought she'd learned by now that taking a walk was dangerous for her health.
She did remember on her way back to pick up the bottle from earlier and use the bin for what it was really meant for instead of a crash course obstacle in a fight.
***
Julia hadn't turned back since walking away from Anna, not even for a second glance. It would have only upset her more looking into the eyes of such a heartless woman. Maybe she had done the right thing to walk away without blood on her hands, but now she was letting her live and the whole threat of the elimination of her kind still fresh out there. It tore into her heart realising she was helpless to do anything. She had to just leave it up someone like Anna to do the job for her.
She just shook her head and hastily wiped away her tears, pretending they'd never escaped in the first place. No way in hell did she want to be seen as some emotional little girl always crying at the thought of danger.
She was suddenly brought to an abrupt stop when she heard the high pitched laughter the seemed to flutter through the wind. It sent a chill right up her spine. She turned around, searching for the person behind the laughter, but was met by nothing but an empty street, lacking life of most sorts.
'I didn't imagine it…' She thought, her ears pricking up as she heard the laughter again, closer this time, coming from her right, which from coming from another street.
She turned her attention down there, looking along the long dark stretch, with nothing moving in sight. She held her breath; hands clenched tightly, her nails digging into the palms of her hands. It was always the case that seeing something meant it was there, but Julia could plainly feeling something coming, their energy riding the wind. Distantly, she thought she could see a green flash of light. Now, being the smart girl she was, Julia didn't waste a second's thought on it as she turned the opposite direction and broke into a run.
She didn't want to breath, she didn't want to make a sound, though her boots made a heavy clomping sound as her feet beat across the concrete, making her heart beat faster with each step. It was now half way away from where she had been standing before and she could now feel a powerful presence, gaining on her fast. She didn't dare turn around, her instincts telling her to keep running as fast as she could.
Taking a sharp left down a narrow path between two shops, she dodged the tall bins and an old rusty bike and followed the long stretch down to a crossroad, now quiet being it quite late in the evening. She ran across, swinging a right to run further on, past a very desolate range of housing, no lights in the windows. Soon, she found her stopping outside of the gates of the Mishima High School, the funded school by Governor Heihachi Mishima.
Without a second thought, she climbed the railings and hoped over, bolting across the courtyard of the front of the school. Right ahead of her was a large fountain monument, still spurting water even though the school was closed up for the night. She skidded down and came to rest just behind the monument, curling up slightly, breathing heavily.
'It can't find me, no way…' She kept telling herself over and over in her mind.
Seconds dragged on into minutes, time beginning to pass as she sat there, waiting to see what would happen next. But nothing seemed it was going to. It was all silent.
'I think I lost it,' she thought, blowing out a sigh of relief.
There was a flash and green light seeped over the ground, taking over every shadow that tried to hide.
Julia gasped, slowly turning in her position, rising to look up over the edge of the fountain, unable to turn away from the light ahead…
***
"Why are you making me come in early?" Xiaoyu whined, dragging behind Jin slightly as they walked to school together.
"Because you were complaining about your homework and I'm going to help you with it," he told her.
"But, we'll be there before everyone else!" She said, as if it was the worst thing to ever happen in the world.
"Yes, and that's a good thing. No distractions," he confirmed, hearing her sigh in defeat.
"Though, are you sure you're well enough to be attending school?" She asked suddenly.
"Well, I can stay in bed for the rest of my days hoping the nightmares will go away. But I have been feeling better, so don't be too concerned," he informed her, giving the young Chinese girl an assuring smile, which she returned.
They were coming towards the school railings when they heard a loud yell. Jin and Xiaoyu turned to each other. It sounded like the caretaker.
They came to the gates of the Mishima High School and looked around for the man in question.
"It sounded like it came from the field," Jin said, taking Xiaoyu's arm as they ran in the direction that they'd heard the cry.
Moments later, they found the caretaker, standing there mortified. He didn't even acknowledge the two, as his eyes were set on a figure floating face up in the pond.
Xiaoyu followed his line of gaze as was horrified to see the stark white body of Julia floating there, void of life. Her eyes stared up towards the sky, seeing nothing, her mouth parted in an eternal scream that had been silenced long ago. The only scream that could be heard now was from Xiaoyu, who was in complete hysterics.
Jin grabbed the young woman and pulled her to himself, holding her faced away from the body. He was in shock himself by seeing the body of his friend floating there ahead of him, but he couldn't look away. He listened almost distantly to Xiaoyu's sobbing, as he could feel a tingle crackling inside of him. He knew that Julia had been another victim of Toshin.
*********************************************************************************
A/N: Julia didn't make much of an apperance, and I know her death will make an impact as she is normally quite a popular used character. Oh well. ^_^ Hope you still read on anyway!